Have you ever looked at clouds in the sky with a friend and been completely amazed that they couldn’t see the “turtle” floating by? I mean, there’s it’s head, there’s it’s shell and that wisp right there is it’s tail. Right? But they couldn’t see it. That’s because every one of us is a unique individual. There has never been, nor will be, in the history of the world, someone who thinks, feels and perceives the world exactly like you. Many beginning writers worry that they don’t have anything original to say but the truth is, you have a world inside of you that is uniquely yours and the key to that world is your senses.
Object writing is an exercise that enables you to dig deep into your senses. It works like this: Pick an object, at first it must be a real object, something you could touch or hold. Then write about that object with as many of your senses as you can. Most of the time when asked to describe something we use just one of our senses: sight. But the purpose of this exercise is to activate all of our senses. How does it feel? Rough? Smooth? How does it smell? Does it make any noise? What would it sound like if it were dropped? What would it taste like? (I know that seems silly but it’s not). And to your five senses of touch, taste, sight, sound, and smell I’d like to add two more for you to write with. Your sense of motion, both inside your body and out, and your sense of emotion.
Let your mind wander. There is no where you can’t go. The object is really just a starting point. Pushing the shovel into the ground the first time as you begin digging into your experiences.
Example
Here’s an example of what I came up with for the word car:
A car comes sighing toward me. Chipped radiator grill like a broken tooth grin. Rubber tires grip the road tight. They have to be able to haul that weight up the hill. Probably a half- ton of steel and rubber and aluminum and plastic. Amazing to look at a car engine running, to see all that rubber, iron and steel churning, and to think that tiny explosions are happening several times a second inside that black hunk of engine block. All those tiny explosions adding up to enough power to send this thing up the hill by my house. Sucking gas into itself to explode. Drinking gas to spit exhaust. The slight aluminum taste of exhaust in the air when a bus passes you. A trail of bitterness in it’s wake. Faint waves of grey smoke that choke me, my esophagus closes and I’m forced to cough just to be able to breath again, my eyes water.
How did I go from a car to choking? Strange. But that’s the beauty of object writing. Its 100% you and where you’re particular experiences take you. Let’s look at the sense information for car.
Sight: chipped radiator grill, black hunk of engine block, faint waves of grey smoke
Sound: sighing, churning,
Taste: aluminum, bitterness
Touch: (oops, didn’t quite get to that)
Smell: smoke, exhaust
Motion: grip the road tight, haul, churning, explosions, sucking gas, drinking, spit exhaust, choke me, my esophagus closes, cough, my eyes water.
Emotion: (maybe) choke me
So there it is. Heavy on the motion because for whatever reason my mind went with the motion of cars. I completely left out touch which is too bad, there are a lot of textures in a car; the fabric of the seats, the smooth paint etc. So now it’s your turn to try. Just one rule:
10 Minutes-No More, No Less
Most people can commit to something for 10 minutes a day. 20 minutes, a half hour, that’s pushing it. The other benefit of keeping your object writing down to 10 minutes is that an amazing thing happens when you cut yourself off in the middle of an idea. It’s kind of like when someone turns off the stereo in the middle of a song, that song might play in your head for hours. The same thing happens with writing. You will be stuck in your writer’s mind for hours after, just sensing and perceiving, and by all means, write down the fragments that come to you throughout the day.
Every Object Writing should follow this format:
Good luck and many days of inspired writing to you!
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